WARNING. LONG ASS REVIEW AHEAD. (mostly filled with quotes from the book. Quotes are taken from my copy of the book)

DNF.

I justify that this long review is because this is such a pointless 500 page novel.

This is the first novel I’ve read (well, tried to read) from Cayla Kluver, and it was disappointing to say the least. I tried so hard to get into this book, but after reading a mere 71 pages into the book, I had to stop. I didn’t even finish the chapter. Maybe I’ll try one of her other books, but I certainly won’t be picking up the rest of this series.

The first thing that turned me off the book: it was boring. I can’t even express how boring this book was, and I don’t even want to think about the rest of the 429 pages left untouched. I couldn’t get into this book, the writing was detailed in all the wrong places, and not enough where we needed it. I don’t even know what Anya looks like! All we get told is that she has auburn hair and the colours of her wings.

Ok, so from here on out I’m going to be giving away some spoilers (if you would even call it that, seeing how it doesn’t do anything for you)

So, from the blurb we know that Anya goes after her cousin Zabriel, in the hope that he will come back and take the throne. It is supposed to be Illumina that goes to find Zabriel, but Anya wants to go because she thinks it’s too dangerous for anyone else, especially Illumina:

{Anya thinking about Illumina}She thought she was ready for the outside world, but she was too naive to even make that judgement.

{Anya talking to her father to try convince him that she should go instead of Illumina}

“She’s not ready for this, Father. I’m afraid she won’t make it back. And this is an especially bad time to send her. The human world feels more unsettled than usual.”

And because of this unsettling feeling, she still takes it upon herself to go after Zabriel, even after Illumina has left! And then this happens:

{Anya just after she leaves Chrior to search for Zabriel}I had warned Illumina about hunters, a far more realistic danger than the ones I was envisioning. Just as humans mounted the heads of bucks on their walls like trophies, so had the wings of Fae become badges of accomplishment for some of them, and near the Bloody Road was a popular place for such brutes to stalk. I could put up my shroud, but if I were seen crossing the Road, ay hunter who happened to be looking would know I was no human. Humans could not survive the Road....Fed up with the way my footsteps reverberated, I took off my cloak and shoved it in my pack. With my wings uncovered, I flew to a branch, opting to hover tree to tree in silence until I had passed the Road....I scanned the area ahead of me, my Fae sense of sight, like hearing and smells, heightened in comparison to the abilities of humans. Observing no signs of danger, I dropped to the ground, relieved to be past the crossing. Now I could leave the forest and its secrets behind. The next instant I would relieve for years to come. Had I adopted my shroud and hidden my wings before falling, things might have been different. Had I been quicker, or less eager, I might have been spared.

You can tell immediately after that last sentence, exactly what’s going to happen. How much more contradicting can you get! And believe me, she is just as bad throughout the entire 71 pages that I managed to read. Including these three scenes in the book:

{Anya gets given the Anlace (dagger on front cover) to carve on a sacred tree. Note, first time she holds the Anlace}In my hand it felt diseased, as though the queasiness spreading through my body was punishment from the knife itself for seizing this power before it was due to me.

{Anya recovering with the humans after her wings were taken.}I tensed, yearning for the Anlace, for the power I felt when I held it.

{Anya, alone in the humans bed recovering while the humans are having dinner}I lay down in bed, my fist clenched around the hilt of the Anlace in the readiness to attack or defent. The vile thing – it was the reason I’d left Chrior. It had frightened me away.

This is all in sequential order by the way. Can you get any more contradicting?!? I got sooooo frustrated at this chick. Like SERIOUSLY!! And then (if you could believe she got worse, she did), she starts to act like she is so OH-high-and-mighty! And that was to everyone! It’s like no one will be able to understand her, that she talks about how much she loves this person or whatever, then she goes and starts acting like this:

{Anya talking to Davic}“I know you don’t understand, Davic, but I have to go.”“You don’t have to go anywhere – unless you believe there’s nothing worth staying for in Chrior. For Nature’s sake, you’re hurt, and you just got home from your last trip! Why won’t you let us help you? You ought to be here with your family, with me, for more than a few days. Or is that notion so insufferable?”

Remember when I said that Anya was complaining, that it was too dangerous for Illumina to go on the trip? Well, guess what actually happens to this “I’m so strong and fearless! No one can do it if I don’t do it!” (No, this is not a quote, this was me mocking her) character:

{Anya just after she drops down to the Road fully exposed}I heard the whipping of an arrow and turned toward the sound an instant before the weapon pinned my wings, both of them in one sharp strike, to the tree I had just vacated. Gasping, I tried to tug free, succeeding only in tearing the membrane of my wings....The man holding my chin pushed my head against the tree. He fitted something made of leather around my wrists and snapped it tight so I couldn’t move my hands. My arms felt weak under the immobilizing pressure of the shackles....I knew what they were going to do. Frenzied, I tried to draw on my elemental connection to the water, asking the snow, the ice, the sap in the trees, the water in the earth, to rise up and shield me.... no response was forthcoming....I cowered, waiting for the second man to deliver fortune’s justice. I was helpless, so completely helpless in that moment. All the independence I was so proud to possess, all the dignity and potential others saw in me was gone. I was no one in the eyes of these humans, and I could not stop them from degrading me, defiling me, robbing me of what made me Fae.

WTF. You could have done something! Something other than stand there like some baby and like a coward, letting them chop off your wings!!! It’s your magic, it’s everything that makes you Fae, and you’re just letting them take it after one tiny failed attempt at calling your magic. You could have done something! What is a membrane tear in your wings compared to actually losing them, along with everything that makes you Fae!!!!!! And then she has the gall to do this to the humans helping her after the attack:

{Anya talking to the humans, after they have tended to her clipped wings, bloody and puss on her back}“What are you going to do with me?”...“Nothing, unless you have something to suggest?”... “How do you feel?”...“Like you’re lying.”...“My father found you when he was hunting,”...“Is that the story he told you?”“It’s not just a story. My father hunts deer and rabbits. For food.”

See!! If this isn’t her acting all OH-high-and-mighty, especially after they’ve just helped you and practically saved your life, then I don’t know what is. OK, I’m going to end this review here while I can actually stop myself.

I would say that you should try the book, it isn’t that bad and you might enjoy it. But then I’d be lying.

If any of you want to try the book, you are more than welcome to take my copy.

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Australia for sending me a copy for review

Definitely a novel that will either pull you apart or lift you up, this is a classic either love or hate novel.

This book has left me..... I feel...... I am lost for words. Not in a terribly bad way, but not in the best way either.

I honestly don’t know what to think of After Eden now that I have finished it. I really liked the book, but... this is really hard to put into words... I don’t even know what I am feeling right now.

Ok, let’s move on. When we read the prologue at the start, we don’t know what is happening. But it isn’t until the middle of the book, where we realize what it means and what it could be. This doesn’t leave us as shocked as what we would have liked. This realization should have made me gasp and my eyes should have gone wider! But it didn’t happen.

Aha! I know what I am feeling about this book now... disappointment.

I feel disappointed because this book could have really been great. It had so much potential with the overall storyline etc, but for some reason, it didn’t work out for me like I was hoping. Sure I enjoyed the book, but it was predictable and it didn’t pull any kind of reaction from me while reading it. It was just a kind of plod-along novel, where you just read and read and read until you run out of pages and haven’t felt a thing. I didn’t hate this book, but I didn’t love it either.

Just think of this book as a short middle kind of read, as something quick to pass the time...

I like how in this book, that it’s hard to stop reading. I don’t mean the whole ‘I’ll just finish one more chapter’ then half a book goes by, but in the way that you really don’t notice page after page go by. It’s not addictive, but it was hooking. Hooking enough to get me to read the entire book in 2 sittings (ok, I read while I waited for coffee, so technically 3, but still). You can easily put down the book after one chapter, that’s not an issue. But when you read and you know that you don’t have to worry about anything else, that’s when you get hooked.

I predicted who Travis was. That was straight from the start, so no drama there. When we read the blurb and hear how Eden loves puzzles, I was a bit thrilled and wondered how creative this book would be because of this. We only heard of Eden doing puzzles, playing scrabble for a second, and doing half a jigsaw for even less time. I like that she figured out Ryan’s secret all on her own, and I nearly even went “no way” at what he is, but this part was even fell plague to the plod-along-no-feely-thing.

What felt really weird to me, was that other than the weather, you really couldn’t tell that the story is set in England. Even then, that kind of weather could happen anywhere. We get told, but there is nothing that brings it to life. Ok, so they called their year, Year eleven, that was the only thing remotely English about it. There was no English slang or anything!

I can’t really say much more on this book than I already have. Connor was annoying because he was being a jealous arse throughout the whole book, and the rest of Eden’s friends just like getting drunk. There isn’t anything I can say about Ryan, he was a kind of swoon worthy character, but it was the whole plod-along thing again that ruined any chance of him being another book boyfriend...

I will read the second book, especially to see how the story moves along, and if anything actually surprising happens.

Captivating; the one word that perfectly describes this book from start to finish.

4.5....

I absolutely fell in love with this book. Everything picks up straight away and we get thrown into life in Marin. Garden creates a stunning underwater world.

We first learn about Miranda and her life in Aus. I can instantly imagine her grandparents shack as well as the surrounds. Miranda is such an easy to like character, and we instantly connect with her. We get thrown into a whirlwind of emotion when she gets taken, we are as angry and confused as she is when she wakes up. Our feelings already in-sync with hers, even though we are just a few chapters into the novel! And no matter how much we want Miranda to get home, we too, are falling in love with Marin and everything in it! When we see Marin for the first time, I was awe-struck. This was nothing that I was expecting. I was thinking that the people of Marin were some paranormal kind of creature, but nope, think again, and prepare to be amazed at what the reality is!

This isn’t like other books where we only agree with some of what the main character is doing or saying. Even with her jealousy of her sister, Lauren, I instantly relate to Miranda about not being noticed compared to her sister. It is so easy to relate to this feeling, because it could be towards anyone, friend or sibling, so we know exactly how Miranda feels.

I honestly didn’t predict anything in this book, EXCEPT THAT SILVIA IS EVIL!! (ok, this isn’t even confirmed yet. *anxiously waiting for next book*), it kept me on my toes and the middle-ending of the book kept me on the edge of my seat!

Even though there is no actual love triangle in this book, I am horrified to say that I kind of made it one. I LOVE ROBBIE!! There, I said it. From the start, I was cheering for him. But! Just as Miranda starts to fall for Marko, I do too!! I can’t believe this is happening, because I want Miranda & Robbie! I got so frustrated because of my conflicting emotions, even though nothing was happening between Miranda & Robbie, I wish it did. At the end, I start questioning my feelings. Marko is amazing too! I don’t know what is happening to me, you all know how much I hate love triangles! Somebody virtually slap me.

There are some secrets that Miranda hides from her sister, and this keeps us on edge, because we get so close to finding out through the book, but then, when we find it all out in the end and it’s a little of a disappointment. All the build up to this and it’s not even a dramatic thing. I don’t go ‘oh!!’, or even become shocked from it. But the ending is all about sisterhood, and it makes us feel like we want a connection like that to our own siblings. This is the only reason why I haven’t rated this book a 5!

When I said before that this book is captivating, I was not joking around. Once you finish this book, you sit back, sigh, and go WOW! Not really ‘wow’, as in explosive, but in an ‘I can’t believe all that just happened’ kind of way. It is only when you finish this book that, I think this really sinks in. You don’t realize the potential of the next book until that last chapter. It completely sets the next book in the series, and I can’t wait!!

Seeing as this is the last book in the trilogy, you may expect a vague review on what actually happens in the book, and more focus on characters and wishes.

I absolutely loved this book. From start to finish it was amazing. Juliette is such a strong character now, and it seems that she has finally found herself, finally opened up to her true feelings and understand what she has to do.

You know that the author is an amazing writer, when you know how much I hate love triangles, and don't even realize that you're changing teams until the very last book!! It feels like everything I know and read about love triangles have been blasted out the window!

From the beginning, I was team Adam. But now, now I have changed, I have fallen for Warner. Adam and Juliette are two different people now, and even though I liked their ship in the first book, it just doesn't compare to Warner in this last book. We see him for who he truly is, and I can't believe that I even doubted that they would be together in the first and second books. Everything makes sense now, and these two are perfect for each other. They are strong, they understand one another on a deeper level than just personality, and they constantly surprise us and blow our minds away.

If you read this trilogy all together, I think that you will enjoy it all even more. Reading the first book, even though it's a bit overboard with the strikeouts, you will be able to clearly see how Juliette develops getting back into the real world throughout the trilogy. Not only with her sanity, but with her powers too, and all the other characters we have fallen in love with along the way. I loved seeing everyone again in this book. I loved how Juliette takes the stand and finally takes charge of herself.

There are so many things that happen in this book, and it's one of those circumstances where you think of how much of the story still needs to happen, and you look at how many pages you have left and wonder how it will all fit. Then start to worry that it might be rushed etc! It was kind of in the middle. It didn't feel rushed, but it kind of seemed too easy in the end, and I wish there was something more with Amderson and what he was saying. There were a few things that I wished I could see more of, like Adam and Warner in one scene of the book towards the end (not telling!!) . OK, I admit that I got a little annoyed at Juliette being confused about her feelings, and how it took one little thing to make her realize the truth and come to terms with everything.

Other than that, this book was amazing, and a brilliant conclusion to the trilogy! I kind of wish there was a epilogue for a glimpse to the future, but that's just me and the book doesn't really need it, it's beautiful the way it is! This is a definite read if you haven't already!!

Dramatic, addictive. There is nothing that this second book lacks, it's got it all

After the events of Shatter Me, we are left craving for more. Even though, this book (and Shatter Me) were not left on any major sort of cliffhanger, we still have this invisible pull to read the next book.

This book was a little slow at the start, but that didn't really stop me from tearing this book apart (speed wise lol). We still get the whole X-Men vibe from this book, as we were starting to see in the end of Shatter Me, but it this hasn't made the book worse or anything, it's made it better and I felt like this was some awesome kind of retelling!

I love how much we can see Juliette grow, especially just coming out of Shatter Me. We see a whole lot less of the strike throughs are more of her adapting to life outside of prison, and rebuilding her self esteem and her sanity. I love Adam and Juliette in this book, YAY TEAM ADAM!

Oh Kenji. How you have brightened this series up! And to think it couldn't get any better. If he wasn't in this book, I'm pretty sure the book would be kind of dull. In the bits where nothing really is happening, Kenji completely takes over and continually pulls us through when usually, we would feel like the book is going slow and it's just fluff.

Even though I am on Team Adam, I'm happy that Juliette kind-of-yeah-maybe broke up with Adam. I'm happy because she needs to find herself without someone else (even someone as awesome as Adam) there to help her along. After nearly a year kept in isolation, even though she doesn't really need any me-time, she definitely needs to sort out her issues, and start being independent and fully fitting back into her shoes (metaphorically speaking).

When you hit the end of the book, you honestly don't know what to do. It's not left in a cliffhanger, but like I said before, it leaves you craving for the last book! The end is full of surprises that leave you shocked and you don't know what to do with yourself after one particular scene! This scene will tear you apart yet full of action!

A brilliantly crafted witchy world, set against a picture perfect backdrop. This book will suck you in and leave you wanting more.

When I started this book, I didn't have enough time to read more than one chapter for a whole day. So when I started to have time, I started getting confused. There are so many characters that are thrust on you straight away, it's hard to keep track of who is who etc. The book is set with following a different character, but you follow that one character in 3rd person, then it switches on each new chapter. I couldn't follow some of what they were talking about, as well as some of the scenes at the start because I didn't understand what was going on. I think it's just me though, because I didn't read it all together and get a real taste of what the book is about in the first few chapters.

Once I started getting into the book, it's a completely different story, it was captivating and I absolutely fell in love with Emma and Cormack. I wanted to keep on reading about their relationship and their secret kisses, that every time we came to a chapter on either Emma or Cormack, I would be hoping for the two to meet again and steal a few kisses and just be plain out cute. Don't get me wrong, I love the other characters too, but these two are my favorite in this book.

The thing that I found really strange was that there was so much kissing, especially beacuse it's supposed to be Regency London. I kept feeling like the amount of kissing in the book as strange. Even though I loved the Emma and Cormack kissing scenes, it still seemed out of place for the time period. I wish there was more descriptions on the spells, like we are told that Emma finally learns how to use the glamour spell, but we first learn that she is having difficulty with it. It suddenly changes to her using the glamour, and we don't even get to see her overcome her first spell!

I loved the bits about her mother, it included something different to the story that wasn't something we were expecting, and it prepared us for the end of the book! I was kind of a bit shocked at some points, but we could get the gist of why some things happened, even if they didn't get explained to us.

If I had enough time, I would have read this book in one (maybe two) sittings. It was addictive, and even though a tiny bit of it is predictable (for me only the spell Cormack's sister told him at the start of the book), it will still keep you turning pages to figure out the mystery. It was only at the end that I had a feeling of who it would be, but even though it was confirmed, there were still a whole heap of surprises that came out at us to leave us stunned.

Even though I said earlier that I got confused at the start of the novel, once I got into the book, I could vividly start picturing everything as it was happening. It's like we are viewing a memory (read the book to understand the reference! haha). But I suggest that you read this book when you have time to just sit and read for a while, so you can get a feel of the world.

It was a brilliant ending to the book, and I can't wait to read the next in the series! It's not a cliffhanger at the end, but after reading something like this, you will be anxious for the second!!

See the original review and my interview with Michael Adams on my blog!

Thanks to Allen & Unwin Australia for sending me a copy for review

Completely action packed and leaves you wanting more. This series just keeps getting better.

I really liked this book. The ending literally made this book for me, and I didn't see that coming at all. This whole book was very unexpected for me, I couldn't predict what was going to happen, or what I wanted to happen. Things just changed so quickly that it was hard to keep up. It was a little slow for me and not really gripping me through the beginning and middle. It was only towards the middle of the second part of the book that I really started getting into it, because I kept on thinking that they are going to make it! They're going to really do it! that kept me going.

Danby has really grown up in this book. When we first see her in book one, she was new to this kind of thing, and didn't really know what she was doing. In this second book, the realization from the ending of The Last Girl, has her on a new path and a new goal. She goes from hating Jack, with a passion, then back to loving him again and falling for his tricks, then back to hating him again! She is a bit all over the place for me in this book (especially at the end with Nathan), and it's kinda frustrating. She goes from not knowing how to use a gun properly and shaking and convincing herself that she has to kill Jack, then she turns into some psycho that thinks about the kill first then think later. Yes, she is getting weird. And it was kind of selfish with her about what Alex said about her brother. He's right and I felt frustrated because why is it all about her (other than she is the main character), but she is only thinking about her brother and no one else! Then at the end, when she tells everyone that she is staying behind, she doesn't fight for anyone else safety and just agrees when they said that they are staying. She doesn't even say anything to try to change their minds, it's like she is looking for the attention and wants everyone to love her. I mean, I love how she has gotten stronger and has grown to suit the circumstances that she is in, but it felt really rushed and made her character seem psychotic (just like Jack wants..... <-- see! he's even convincing us with his mind control mojo)

Anyways....... Jack is a really good character. Even though he is the villain, he is a really really good villain. I haven't seen one like him in a long time that can completely sway peoples emotions (in the book and us readers as well) like he does. He's a character that we literally love to hate, and this series wouldn't be the same without him! and OH!! that ending! I kinda imagined it during the book, but I didn't see that ending coming!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIZ!

I love the setting, mainly because it's close to home for me. I can relate to it so easily and can picture everything in my head. The book is so vivid that there is not one single point that I couldn't visualize what was happening. It kept me going, and made me want to continue reading, even though the book was slow.

From the very beginning of this series, I didn't know what to expect. And even now, finishing the second book and waiting for the finale, I don't know what is going to happen to finish this series. It is so unpredictable, and so refreshing that it completely mixes you up and pulls you through the book. My only faults in this second book, was how slow it was in the beginning-middle and Danby's sudden changes in character. Other than this, this second book is just as good as the first novel in the series, and I can't wait for The Last Place to come out. I have no idea what to think of the ending of this book, as well as what it could lead to, to solve everything and give us a happy ending..... or are we going to get a happy ending? hmmmm this book could swing either way and leave us stunned and shocked.

See the original review, my interview with Julianna and enter the giveaway (US+CA, ends 3 February 14)

Thanks to Hachet Group (US) for providing my with a copy for review and the giveaway copies!

My heart is torn in two and I'm shocked. I am in Post-Burn depression. I honestly don't know what to say, it was amazing.

After finishing this series, I came to the following conclusion on what new Pure trilogy readers, and old readers need to do before you start Burn:With this whole series, to be able to fully get into it like what it is intended to, you need to read all three books one after another. So if you haven't started this series yet, DON'T! Burn will be releasing soon, so I suggest that you wait for this (especially after the ending in Fuse, you're going to want to grab this book straight away!)***There are definitely things in the finale that I loved and didn't love. Some of the choices that were made, and especially the nerve of some people. But most of all, I didn't really love the ending... (more on ending below)

This book continues straight where Fuse left off. We can tell that this book is going to be all action packed, as we race to the finale! Things start to unwind and the stakes are high, and Baggott keeps you guessing the whole way through! You don't have any idea what is about to happen or what might happen in the coming chapters.The characters that we have grown to know and love, are transformed completely, becoming stronger for the end and for the change. The stakes are extremely high in this book, for every character, and we are right alongside them every step of the way. We feel for them, and we scream with them, and we argue with them..Things are definitely tense in this book, with everything coming together and unexpected things that happened at the end of Fuse, we are completely hooked and can't get enough. I definitely miss Bradwell's perspective in this book, but because of such unexpected circumstances at the end of Fuse, we understand why. I think, now that I have finished the book and look back at this, I believe that it is better that we didn't get to see Bradwell's perspective. After what has happened, he doesn't really know who he is, or even recognize himself anymore or the person that he is with Pressia. From the events in this book, that happened towards the end, I think that showing Bradwell's POV would have given some of the ending away. So, you know how I haven't really liked Partridge throughout the series? Well, after this book, I really do hate him. Seriously, I hate him. I can't even explain the level of hate I have for him now. And I still find Iralene just as annoying. These two are just as bad as each other. Most of the things that Partridge suggests for a "better life", sure they are full of hope and it would make everything so perfect la-de-da-de-da blah blah blah. He doesn't see the repercussions that this will have on the people of the Dome, as well as the people outside. You know here that he he is still a child, doing what a privileged child would do. BLEH.moving on.....I absolutely love Pressia and Bradwell at the end. The moment between them was....magical *sigh* It was like a dream, a perfect and wonderful and happy dream, that got us out of our frantic page turning, that I literally had to take a deep breath and what was happening. It was seriously, beautiful. I can't say any more than that, there are no words to describe how breathtaking that scene is. It made us slow down, and take a deep breath that we really needed before the main event started!I really can't believe what happened in the end. Seriously, W.T.F HAPPENED!!!! I am still in shock over this (this is the #1 symptom of Post-Burn depression and what happened is 99.5% the reason for this serious depression. NOTE. this depression will only occur after you have either, 1.Read the entire trilogy one after another; or 2. Read Fuse and Burn right after each other). I balled my eyes out, literally. I'm even tearing up just thinking about it (not that I'm going to say what happened), I madly went through pages after that. I didn't want it to be true, and I so badly hoped that this wasn't the choice that he made, knowing what will happen because of it!So, like I was saying about the ending. To be honest, I thought it was lacking. I felt that there were so many things that I wanted to see happen and for it all to wrap up nicely, but they didn't. Before I knew it, I ran out of pages and I was just sitting here thinking what am I going to do now. The end of this book is numbing. I think I know what Baggott is trying to get with at the end, like she wants us to fill in the blanks with what we might think will happen. What I am really hoping for, is that we get some sort of 'After Pure' novella or something that tells us what happened, then we can match it with out own reality. You could comfortably fit a few more chapters in this book, just to give us what happens to everyone instead of leaving it as it was, without much detail on anything else. The ending felt completely different to the rest of the book. It didn't have as much detail as all three books did, and that is what made me felt like it was lacking as well. And there was this other, weird feeling that happened as I read the final pages. It felt like a movie, seriously, like a movie. The way that the ending was written, like it was showing each character's position and what they were going to do, and then after we know what they are going to do it fades out and goes to the next character. From there it keeps on going from each character until we are just left with Pressia finishing the book. That bit I loved. I love how she was the final voice in the book.

See the original review, my interview with Julianna and enter the giveaway (US+CA, ends 3 February 14)

Thanks to Hachet Group (US) for providing my with a copy for review and the giveaway copies!

Fuse is intriguing and complex, diving straight back into the story again from Pure, taking you on a whirl-wind adventure.

I kind of struggled with this book a little bit. Not in the way that is wasn't entertaining, but in the way that I was too focused on trying to remember what happened in Pure, that I didn't really focus on much else for a little ways into this book. I get why Baggott didn't really give us much of a re-cap into Pure, and you realize why after you finish Fuse. But it's because there really isn't enough room for a good re-cap of the first book, which is why you really need to read this series together! I felt lost in the beginning, and then when I remembered it all, everything started to get a whole lot more interesting! Events beyond what I even thought were possible were made reality in this book, and they take you by the hand an squeeze you until you're frantically turning the pages to find out what is in store next.

This world is so detailed and literally is dripping of pure imagination, that you don't know what will come next, you are hanging on every word, and every little thing that they all do. There was high stakes, and tension between the characters, that made me want to hold on and keep on going. The world that has been build has made way for so many possibilities that anything and everything could happen, and we won't even see it coming.

I never really liked Partridge as much as I would have liked. I like how he loves Pressia and the rest of the gang, even though they have only known each other for such a short period of time. We believe his motives for wanting to go back in the Dome, and we can see that he will be the one to make the world a better place from inside the Dome. But I still believe my original thoughts of him from the first book, he is too innocent (even though he doesn't seem so innocent when he is in the cottage with Lyda ;) ), and it doesn't do him any good in the book where everyone else is such a strong character (the only other annoyingly stupid characters are the Dome worshipers, and I wanted to just smack them in the face, seriously).

I love El Capitan and Helmud so much more in this book! We get to see so much more of them, and we see how they change as well from being OSR soldiers to the people they are today. I don't want to give anything away, but we really start to see El Capitan in a completely different light when they start the major part of their journey. We see him as just another survivor of the detonations, and we also get to see Helmud given the respect and recognition that he deserves! The two start to look out for each other a lot more in this book, and we can see them grow together and start to become more of a team, than how you first see it in Pure as just one man carrying the burden of another on his back.

I mentioned how much I love Bradwell in Pure. Well that certainly doesn't change!! I am definitely sailing on the Bradwell ship and I do not intend to ever leave :) As the book goes on, I can't help but love him even more. Even though things were tough, Bradwell and Pressia got through things together and their relationship became stronger because of it. Even though the end of the book made my eyes wide and my hand came to cover my open mouth in shock and awe at what happens, I still know that things are going to be ok, and that he is still beautiful (if you haven't read Fuse then you probably don't understand what I'm talking about, but you will if you read!!).

I love the little side characters in this book, Wilda and Finigan. Pressia seems to grow a lot more with Wilda there, and she takes care of her and is there for her, like a younger sister. Now add Finigan to the mix, as Bradwell's "best friend", and you really start to love the quirkiness that is Finigan and his flashy lights and infinite knowledge! The only side character that I didn't like was Iralene. SHE WAS SO ANNOYING!!!!!!!! SHE IS EVEN MORE STUPIDLY INNOCENT THAN PARTRIDGE! I really didn't like reading about them. Sometimes, I had hope for her. Like she was just acting that way so she can survive. But most of the time, it's like she wasn't acting like that, and was literally some typical blonde bimbo. Warning. You will get frustrated with her...

Pressia. What can you not love about this girl. She is strong, and her willpower is amazing. She will do whatever it takes to make the world better for all the people, not just for those outside the Dome. Sure, sometimes her thoughts on it all are not thought out, and we can see what is wrong with her plans of the future, and how idealistic parts of it is.

I thought that Baggott did a brilliant job with the different POV's. Even though some of the characters were together, we understood exactly what was happening, as well as getting into the current protagonists' thoughts. We didn't get lost or confused, and I really enjoyed getting to see different points of view from Pressia, Bradwell, El Capitan, Partridge and Lyda. The ending is explosive! I really can't describe it any less than that. Reading this on my eReader, I kept on looking at how many pages were left towards the end, and I was tearing myself apart, because I kept on thinking of how much more needs to happen, and the end of the book is so close! You are left with so many questions, and you wonder how everything will play out from there.

So, I've stayed up quite a bit trying to work with this beautiful cover, for the banners for the Australian Blog Tour, and now I've finished! I love the final design of these banners :) and they look so good on the blog (if I do say so myself!)

Now, just wait until 5 February until my stop on the tour! I will be reviewing all 4 books in the Elementals series, as well as hosting a giveaway (Australian residents only, and will not be on BookLikes sorry!)

Here are the banners! What do you think?

Long Banner (perfect for the side of the blog)

Side Banner (perfect for on the blog post) [there is a line going through this for some reason, so just ignore the line]